Improvement in non-conducting coverings



G. L. BIKER. Non-Conducting Covering.

Patented Feb. 2,1875.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARROLL L. RIKER, OF ROCHELLE PARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE VEGETABLE FELTING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK CITY.

IMPROVEMENT IN NON-CONDUCTING COVERIN GS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,452, dated February 2, 1875; applicatiot filed May 29, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARROLL L. BIKER, of Rochelle Park, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful non-conducting covering or lining for excluding or retaining heat or cold, of which the following is a specification:

The invention consists in the discovery and production of a superior non-conducting material or felt from the head or top of the common cat-tail or reed-mace.

The same is composed of soft and downy material, forming the head of the cat-tail, and which, after the abstraction of the core or stem of the same, may be made into a felt by any of the known processes, but which, for many purposes, is better used before it is so felted.

Among the uses to which it maybe applied with success are the following: refrigerators, ice-houses, water-coolers, pitchers, &c., steamboilers, pipes, tanks, &c. It has special advantage in the latter case possessed by no other felting material, namely, not burning or charring at as low a temperature as do many others used for the same purpose. Furthermore, this material is not only lighter, but is much less expensive.

In order to form this material into a felting of great tensile strength, it is necessary to add some other substance, as hair, for instance, which will materially increase its tensile strength.

What I claim is v A felting or non-conductin g covering material or lining for excluding or retaining heat or cold, made from the head of the cat-tail or reed-mace, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. In combination with a felting or nonconducting covering made from the head of the cat-tail or reed-mace, hair or such similar material, for assisting in felting or otherwise, as

specified.

G. L. BIKER. Witnesses:

MICHAEL RYAN, FRED. HAYNES. 

